I really like this puzzle saver, it's great in so many ways--it keeps puzzles in place, allows you to store them easily and keep pets (and toddlers) out of your puzzle. It's large, yes, but also very flat which makes it easy to store behind furniture, under beds, or against walls. It snaps shut in a very secure manner, and holds puzzle pieces in place. The board can be lifted out, and there are shallow spaces where you can store and sort pieces. It's great!
This puzzle saver should have 5 stars, but I just have one big complaint about it. It's two inches too short!! Most of my Milton Bradley and Ravensburger puzzles are Americana folk art and measure 22 x 25 inches. This puzzle saver only allows for 20 x 28size puzzles. It's frustrating that it's just TWO INCHES too small. Very few of my standardsize 1000 piece puzzles work with this puzzle saver. Bummer.
I still use it and like it very much. I just hope they release an updated version that fits more standard puzzles! TWO INCHES is nothing! I'd buy a bigger one in a heart beat.
So, my advice before you purchase this is to check out the average size of your puzzles--this may or may not be a good fit for you depending on that one aspect.
I was really excited when my Puzzle Storage for Upto 1000 Pieces arrived.I've recently gotten back into jigsaw puzzles, and with only limited space with which to work in, I was desperate to find something that would allow me to work on my puzzles, and store them safely out of the way the rest of the time.
The Puzzle Storage for Upto 1000 Pieces fails in many areas.Firstly, you need a huge area in which to lay this thing out properly --it did not fit at all on our small(ish) dining table.The reason is that when open, one side of the case serves as the area to work on the puzzle, whilst the other side serves as a "sorting" area with separate compartments for the puzzle pieces.Great idea, sure, but not at all practical for a small dining table.You need an area of about 44 x 30 inches in which to set this thing our properly.
Unfortunately, that's not the only problem.The board itself has a surface that is extremely slippy.I can imagine it would be difficult to pick up individual pieces from such a surface, and the jigsaw puzzle itself would slide around very easily.There are no raised edges to this board, so a lot of care would need to be taken not to cause the entire puzzle to go sliding onto the floor.
The case itself did not seem a very practical means of transporting or storing a jigsaw puzzle.Unless you can keep it completely flat, an uncompleted jigsaw puzzle is going to fall apart as soon as you attempt to carry it by the carry handles.It seems strange to me that the case was even designed to be carried this way due to a puzzle clearly not being likely to stay together when moved in this position.
Also, I dread to think what would happen to all those jigsaw pieces that you would have spent time sorting into the separate compartments.There's no lid or anything to hold them securely in their compartments, and in order to close the case --how is anyone meant to do this with the compartments full of jigsaw pieces?Lowering the "lid" would cause all of the pieces to fall out of the compartments.Therefore, this is hardly a practical transport or storage solution as you'd still need to find somewhere to keep your puzzle pieces (or have them just fall all over the place inside the case).
I was not happy with this product at all, and am returning it immediately back to Amazon.Although it's a lot more expensive, I am now looking into buying a "Jigsort" --this looks far more practical and efficient.I hope it will suit my needs better than the Puzzle Storage for Upto 1000 Pieces did.
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I don't have room to keep a puzzle-in-progress on a kitchen or card table, so I've been looking at various ways to store puzzles for over a year and I finally found this one. Puzzle Storage for Upto 1000 Pieces And even though it is pretty expensive, paying for it wasn't an issue because I used the Amazon gift cards my son bought me for my birthday. I waited until I used it for a while for the Animals in Africa, 1000-Pieces Augmented Reality Puzzle Animals in Africa, 1000-Pieces Augmented Reality Puzzle I was also able to buy as one of Amazon's daily deals.
Some pros:
* The Amazon version is shipped in "Certified Frustration-Free Packaging," which is great for someone like me with severe arthritis in my hands.
* The carrier is sturdy, with 2 carrying handles.
* There's a removable assembly board included, as well as 5 partitioned areas in the carrier to sort puzzle pieces.
* The carrier snaps shut when closed.
* Although the whole case is big, it's narrow in depth which makes it less awkward and easier to store.
* It's large, but not so large that it's impossible to work on it on my lap and legs on my sofa.
And cons (all little things that would make working with puzzles easier):
* It is large, which would be cumbersome for shorter people. I'm 5'3" and I have to lean a little to the side to prevent it from hitting the ground as I walk.
* The largest puzzle size it can accommodate truly is only 1,000 pieces; when the edge is assembled it goes right to the very edge of the assembly board.
* You have to make sure all 4 sides of the carrier are snapped shut. Even though I've thought the sides were closed, the first time I used it I noticed puzzle pieces were falling out. Now I know that I have to slide my hand along the edges and snap it shut in several places on each side.
* There are also indentations on both sides of the carrier; I assume it's to make it easier to lift up the assembly board, but they're also easy places for puzzle pieces to escape!
* Although overall I'm really glad I chose this one, the most disappointing thing when I began working on the puzzle was that I'd spent a lot of time finding the edge pieces and sorting the pieces into the 5 partitions, but when I closed the whole thing and lifted it to carry it to the closet ALL the pieces fell out of the partitions and mixed all together again. Lesson learned; I resorted them and store the areas in Ziploc bags. This is why I took off a star.
UPDATE DECEMBER 6, 2012:
M. Swanson' review of the Ravensburger Neuschwanstein Castle 1500-Piece Puzzle had another suggestion that I think would also solve the problem with sliding pieces during storage; he uses coffee filters for each section of the puzzle. Great idea!
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Seriously, I have ALWAYS wanted one of these puzzle storage units. As I only work a couple of puzzles a year, however, it seemed an extravagance and a luxury item. I was thrilled to get my hands on this new toy and am, in truth, a bit disappointed.
Pros:
Perfect size for standard 1000 piece puzzles.
Self contained, no more cluttering up table tops for extended periods.
Extra room to sort pieces with a few large compartments.
Closes up for easy flat storage (under bed, couch)
Cons:
Simply not effective for transport unless kept flat.
Nothing keeps pieces from sliding when unit is vertical.
There are two main functions in such a device. Storage and transport. This fails on the transportation aspect, and that's a pretty big let-down. The product description promises that the snap tight case will prevent this and it does not. There are even carrying handles implying that this is a normal expectation. Truthfully, how often do you need to carry your puzzle around? Probably not very often. As a work surface, this is just fine. And if that's all you need, by all means--this is terrific. But I've got to score the product accordingly for not fulfilling its promises as listed in the product description. KGHarris, 9/11.
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I got this for Christmas, and decided to use it for the traditional Christmas puzzle we do on Christmas day.
What I like:
1. The compartments to sort puzzle pieces do work, and the pieces do not move when the puzzle is closed.
2. When the puzzle is on the board and the case is snapped closed, the puzzle did not move or fall apart.My wife commented that this is true for Ravensburger puzzles, but not be true for thinner puzzles.
3. The case means no more dedicated table, as we can close the case and store the puzzle when we need the table for something else, or when my very young nephews come to visit! :)
What I wish was better:
1. The trays are not removable, so you can't pass the tray around for other people to fins the perfect piece.We wound up not using them after trying them for an hour or so.Cheap cookie sheets in various sizes works for us.
2. There is no lip on the board, or on the side of the case the board sits on when you are working the puzzle.This means the board can easily move if the board or table are bumped hard enough.We used the board, but wound up laying it on the table and building the puzzle on top of it.We put the case aside until we were ready to close it up.
3. Although the case does snap closed, it is easy to not close it completely, and worse, it is even easier to have it open accidentally.My wife finally resorted to some velcro on the side near the front, which worked perfectly.Should not have had to do that, though.
4. When the case is fully open, it takes up a LOT of space on the table, and it allows the for the puzzle to really only be oriented in one direction.We have a large table, so the case size was not a concern, but the orientation is.
So overall, this case is fair to good, but could be improved with a few tweaks.We will use it in the future to store a puzzle that is half done, but not for much else.It's too bad, as this is a great idea which suffers from some poorly thought out execution.
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